


Secret

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 22:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14861171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: How about light angst around the sentence "because I love you, you idiot!" Asked by queer-as-in-fuckyou via tumblr“You do?” Emma’s sleepy face stared at her from the crook of her neck where she had been dozing off, eyes blinking owlishly as she slowly focused her gaze.





	Secret

**Author's Note:**

> I tweaked a little bit the interior of Regina’s mansion for this at some points. Just as a heads up.

 

Film finishing, Regina rolled her eyes at the screen, poking Emma’s ribs while doing so.

“It was awful.” She said, eyeing the empty glass she had been drinking cider from and half-wishing to have a little more only to erase the cheesy lines of the film they had just watched.

“You shouldn’t have let me pick the film then.” Emma’s grin was obvious even if Regina couldn’t see her face, the blonde’s weight a presence at her side where the soft snores and occasional grunts had told Regina that, throughout the film, the younger woman had fallen asleep at least twice. “I don’t know why you keep letting me pick them if you are going to complain later.”

“Because I love you, you idiot.”

She wanted to blame her frankness on the cider. Alas, the words were already out.

 “You do?” Emma’s sleepy face stared at her from the crook of her neck where she had been dozing off, eyes blinking owlishly as she slowly focused her gaze.

Rolling her eyes and swatting Emma’s shoulder, Regina disentangled herself from Emma’s arms and nodded, television casting shadows on Emma’s arms she followed with her right hand, fingers splayed. The blonde’s skin was warm to the touch and she smiled slightly at the utter look of content that crossed over the younger woman’s face for a moment as she kept caressing her.  There was something adorable on Emma starting to fall asleep.

Not that she would ever tell her, of course.

“You know I do.” It came breathier than intended, slightly choked and Regina winced inwardly at the way her voice got caught on her vocal chords. Smiling but feeling the corners of her lips trembling, she reached for the remote, thumbing the on/off button for a moment as she felt Emma finally moving away from her, taking with her the warmth that seemed to cling to her muscles and flesh.

Sighing softly, she switched the tv off and cleared her throat. It wasn’t the first time Emma stayed longer than intended after dinner, nor the first one she would end up telling her to stay and pass the night, adducing lateness. Neither of them pointed out on those moments that Emma was capable of not only doing a twenty-minute drive but also apparate herself by now.

Tonight, however, as she ironed invisible crinkles on her clothes, Regina wondered if that would be the night the blonde actually remembered that she didn’t need to sleep there, on a room that was slowly becoming less of a guest room and more hers and hers alone.

The blonde was eyeing her when she turned to look at her, head tilted and shades of grey fading on her skin where the light coming from the still unlit kitchen didn’t touch her, pools of light draping over her shoulders and back. The rest of the den was in penumbra and Regina’s eyes strained as they adjusted, falling slightly at Emma’s lips as the blonde exhaled.

“I love you too, you know that, right?”

Regina wanted to scoff at that; wanted to point out to Emma that she shouldn’t be saying things that she didn’t mean it. She was tired though and so she let the blonde’s word reach to her as she stood from the couch, picking the empty glass from the small table and turning towards the kitchen’s door only for Emma’s hand catch her dress, wrinkling the fabric and bunching it up for a second before the blonde stood up as well.

“I do.” She repeated. Her entire face was in shadows but Regina could feel the heat on her eyes and the white sparks that flickered for a moment there, haloing them as she swallowed.

“I’m tired.” She managed to answer, circling Emma and heading towards the kitchen, glasses in hand.

She wished, she thought as she rinsed them and switched the lights off, she wished for the words to be true but she had long ago given up the pretense that Emma returning her feelings could be a reality. Squaring her shoulders, she returned back to the den in where Emma was already folding the blanket they both had been on top off during the movie, movements methodical and still circled in shadows.

“I… do you want to stay?” It came out of her mouth before she could think twice and, for a second, as everything grew silent, Regina wished to be able to take it back. On every other night their banter would have been that, banter, words she would later think about but without any actual weight. That night, however, there seemed to be something crackling between them.

Which she hated.

Emma sighed before placing the blanket on top of the couch, running her right hand through her hair while the other pinched at the fabric of the tank top she wore.

“I was saying the truth, you know? About loving you.”

Regina felt her body going cold as Emma approached her, bottom lip jutting out in a soft pout that transformed quickly into a soft, sad smile.

“Was I too late? I know I needed… I know I should have told you before. But it’s true.”

Gasping, Regina watched as Emma grasped her hands between hers, grateful for her eyes having accustomed to the darkness, fingers tingling as she squeezed Emma’s hands, unsure of what to do next.

“I want to stay. Can I?”

And despite having just asked her that, Regina nodded dumbly as Emma smiled, muttered a soft good and, freeing her right hand from her grip, cupped her cheek while moving forward.

Later, much later, Regina couldn’t say who kissed the other first.

Emma said it had been her of course.


End file.
